Wanted: Anyone who can speak Francais
Request is part of Museum of Work and Culture project
WOONSOCKET – Parlez vous Francais?
If you answered yes, Bekah Speck would love to have a word with you.
But the writer-in-residence for NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley isn’t just looking for French speakers whose family trees reach back to Canada – as so many of the city’s residents do. Sure, she’s looking for those, too, but Speck is reaching out to people from any and all French-speaking nations as part of a cultural arts project designed to explore what it means to speak the language – no matter where you’re from.
A joint venture of NeighborWorks and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the project aims to better understand how French language and culture, past and present, have shaped life in the Blackstone Valley.
“For centuries, people have been migrating to the Blackstone Valley from nations where French was spoken by choice or necessity, and these migrations continue today,” says Speck. “Many cities and towns in the Blackstone valley are home to “Francophone” populations from such places as Quebec, Cambodia, Syria and Senegal, to name a few.”
Speck, the former director of RiverzEdge Arts, says her goal is to assemble a group of 15 to 30 interviewees will to share personal recollections,
opinions, reflections, histories and habits related to French language and culture.
She’s says she’ll be looking for “points of commonality” and “distinctive elements” within groups that help define “a shared experience of place.”
Speck says she intends to distill the information into a series of monologue scripts to be performed live and preserved on videotape. The live performances will be staged at the Museum of Work and Culture as part of the institution’s 20th anniversary celebration, which is to take place from Labor Day to Nov. 4, according to Speck.
In addition to interviewees, Speck is also looking for individuals interested in performing the monologues as part of the celebration.
“Truly, I’m most jazzed about being the vehicle for community art-making as the basis for arts research,” she says. “The stories and their potential to inform and shape an updated collective identity are very exciting.”
Since commencing the project, Speck says she is learning that “everyone’s story is truly unique and rich in detail – artifacts passed down through a variety of dramatic experiences that have brought people here.”
After promoting the effort through personal contacts, Speck says she has already heard from a number of groups who want to be involved, including the Rhode Island Foreign Language Association, the African Alliance of Rhode Island and New Beginnings for Haitian Success. She’s also been invited to speak about the project in Newport.
For more information on the project, to volunteer or to inquire about setting up an interview, Speck can be reached at bekahjasmine@gmail.com or 401-3384126.